Frontline
by ChaosWolf021
Summary: Danny Henderson. Once a soldier of the Confederacy, now a marine of the Dominion. Once a devoted father and loving husband... now a shell of a man who will only find his salvation on the frontlines of the bloodiest war in human history.
1. Chapter 1 The Trenches

_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Starcraft, Blizzard Entertainment does, and in a way, Blizzard owns this story as well, so I am kind of working for them. Kind of.

_Author's Note:_ This first chapter is just a set-up. The ones that come later will be darker, more violent, more viscious. So enjoy! (For reviews, please point out what you liked and didn't like so I can improve, thanks)

**STARCRAFT: FRONTLINE**

**Chapter 1: The Trenches**

TAUR SARA CONFEDERATE MILITARY OUTPOST 

"Get your asses out of bed marines," sergeant Ajax Carter yelled as he walked into the barracks dorm.

Private Danny Henderson groaned, and groggily opened his eyes. He blinked a few times and lightly hit his head against the wall. That woke him up, and he swung his legs out from his bunk, which was really a cubicle in the wall with an uncomfortable mattress on it. While in the armory, lockers were assigned to each marine, the bunks were a free for all grab, so you slept in a different one every night.

As the marines woke up, they filed into the fair sized kitchen, where they would grab their breakfast rations. Danny sat beside private Kenny Dawson, who ate his gray sludge without a sound.

"Jesus I wish we could some new orders, there's nothing on this fucking rock worth defending," Kenny said suddenly, Danny looked over at him. The man was of an average marine build, with a shaved head, just like every other marine in this barracks, and the barracks on the other end of the compound.

"This is an agriculture planet. Lots of colonists here, but there a few miles away from here. You know that Kenny, that's why we're here. You should also know that the confederacy doesn't have this planet in their books, and we haven't sent a message for about a month now. We should get some fresh blood out here though, so we can get back to civilization. I need to see Miranda again, last time I saw the kids they were five and two. Now they're eight and five," Danny said.

"Our term of service ends next week. We can go home, same with a shit load of the guys here," Kenny said, spooning more of the sludge into his mouth.

When they finished their morning meal, which was only a few minutes, the marines were herded to the locker room, which was right at the entrance, because the rest of the barracks was too small to move around in power armor and wielding rifles.

A few technicians helped marines into their bulky armor, but once inside, they easily picked up their C-14 impaler gauss rifles, and loaded them. The weapon would not be usable by someone out of the armor, but a marine was able to wield it like a normal rifle.

The marines exited the barracks, and the graveyard shift marines went in to get some needed sleep. The marines went to the bunkers, and into the trenches dug around the outpost. Others prepared to go out on patrol with the vulture hover bikes that they had stored by the machine shop.

Danny glanced over to the command post, which was horribly understaffed. There were a few SCVs working, but they were only gathering a little vespane gas from a nearly depleted geyser. There were also a few under stocked supply depots around the yard. But Danny's interest was solely in the trenches and bunkers, backed by a single missile turret behind each bunker

Danny was positioned in the bunker on the northwest corner. He felt a little adrenaline pump through his veins when the vultures started up, but when they passed to pilot around in the wilderness, Danny felt fatigue creep back over his mind.

Marines assigned to the bunkers were considered lucky because they would be able to get at least another hour of sleep, and so that's what Danny and the three other marines did, the set their rifles against the gun racks, and laid themselves on the cots that bunkers had in case of a siege, and slipped into sleep.

* * *

The roar of a vulture woke Danny up. He blinked a few times. The vultures were back. Had he had slept in that long? He blinked a few times wondering why the other marines hadn't woken him. He looked around and saw that the other marines in the bunker were waking up as well.

"Holy shit, we slept for a while," one of them said, who Danny identified as private George Mendel.

Then Danny realized he only heard one vulture. Four had gone out on patrol, and they always returned together. Danny checked the time display on the inside of his helmet. The vultures had only been gone twenty minutes.

Danny was immediately awake, and when he jumped up, the others in the group found the same answer by themselves. They ran to the door, but Danny looked out the firing slit out into the barren landscape. He could see Mt. August in the distance, and the occasional tree and patch of thinning grass. Beyond that though, he saw smoke from the where the nearest colony would be. St. Jacob's Haven was what it had been named by the enthusiastic colonists who were finally free of the Confederacy's grip… almost.

Now though, it was in flames, or perhaps it was a crater. Danny stared in shock. Nothing ever happened way the hell out here. Were the confederacy under attack? Was it a rebellion?

Then something caught Danny's eye. He wasn't sure what it was, but he had seen it flying above Mt. August. Unconsciously he reached for his gauss rifle, and picked it up. He held it close to him like it was a piece of the true cross.

Then the three other marines moved away from the door, and sergeant Ajax entered the bunker. He looked around, and shook his head in disapproval, though the sergeant never approved anything. Unless it was fighting.

"The scouts have reported in. St. Jacob's Haven has been torn apart by an unidentified alien species. Yes Klien, alien, shut your hole. The other scouts were attacked, and killed by multi legged creatures. The survivor also said they were gathering to attack us, so be ready, no slacking," and with that Ajax left the bunker.

The marines stared after the sergeant, but then they snapped out of their stupor, and grabbed their gauss rifles. They positioned themselves by the firing slits, and braced themselves for combat.

* * *

It was about a half hour later when the creatures began to skitter towards the outpost. There were hundreds of the creatures. Most were the four legged creatures that had attacked the vultures, they also had an extra two limbs on their fronts tipped in deadly claws, and they had pointed snouts, almost like a dog from hell.

Others though had snake like bodies, and two scythe like arms and with a long broad head. Then there were the screeching things that looked like giant mouths with wings.

"Jesus fucking Christ what the hell is this?" the marine named Klien said, his gauss rifle resting against the metal bottom of the gun slit.

"_All marines, do not fire until you have a clear shot_," Ajax commanded over the communication network.

Danny counted to thirty seconds, by then a few of the marines with the best aim were firing. Once Danny reached thirty though, the creatures were too close for comfort. He squeezed the trigger of his rifle, which immediately began to jump in his gauntleted hands. Metal spewed forth from the muzzle of his gun, smashing through the hordes of alien monsters, but despite loss of limbs they would continue crawling, spreading their blood across the ground.

"What the hell are they?" Klien cried out, his fingers jammed down on his rifle, trying to kill as many of the things as possible.

It was at that moment that Danny realized something horrible. Their bullets were designed to maim, not kill. They were designed to main so that more men would be taken from the battlefield to help their wounded comrade, but these things had no care for their fellow warriors, or for their own wounds.

"This is going to get bad," Danny muttered, just as he heard the missile turret lock onto one of the flying things. The missile flew from the turret, and impacted with the creature. It exploded and its blood flew everywhere, and what was left of its corpse dropped to the ground like a stone, crushing a few of the dog things.

After that, the missile turrets were having trouble keeping up with the flyers, who began to spit some kind of acidic spore at the Terran defenses. One hit the bunker, sizzling through steel, but it also bounced off, and went straight through a missile turret's base, then hit one of the marines that had just been leaving the barracks, cutting through a section of his armor, and biting into his flesh. He screamed, and fell to the ground, writhing in agony.

Danny stared through the rear gun slit for a few seconds before turning back to face the creatures. He reloaded his rifle, then started firing again, screaming out his fear now. One of the snake things reared up, exposing a hood like object under its head. It shot out needle like spines. One of which flew through one of the windows of Danny's bunkers and stuck into a man's chest. He looked down at it, amazed that it hadn't carved through his armor.

Danny glanced at it, then looked up when he heard sizzling. The steel was being peeled away by the acidic assault of the flyers.

"Get out, into the trench," Danny yelled out, and the marines, especially Klien, didn't need to be told again. But as they were running out, one of the snakes fired again, and its quill passed through the glass, bubble like helmet of the marine who had a spine in his chest.

Danny looked back, and saw some of the dogs things crawling into the bunker, tearing the steel away from the gun ports, and they crawled in. Danny aimed his rifle at them, and fired. The ammo counter on his rifle was quickly running down to zero. When his magazine did empty, he automatically reached for a new one, and loaded his weapon, then began firing again. Alien blood sprayed out across the ruins of the bunker, but Danny kept firing, more creatures were climbing in, hoping to get into the trench from the side.

Then the drone of a dropship sounded from overhead, and Danny heard Wraith fighters fire missiles into the flyers before turning their burst lasers into the ground units, who were torn apart.

Danny looked back to see two dropships land. One opened, and two Goliath walkers stepped out, their auto cannons immediately began firing into the alien horde, blowing them apart. Danny laughed, they had been saved. The confederacy had finally…

Danny looked back at the Goliaths and dropships. He had expected to see the white coloring of the alpha squadron, instead they were colored red and black. Danny frowned. He didn't like this.

After a few blood minutes, the battle was over. Danny looked around. Many of the confederate marines had been killed in the battle, before the strangers had come to rescue them. Amongst the dead was Magistrate Keyes, who had been in charge of the outpost, leaving Ajax in command. The sergeant walked up to a man in an magistrate's uniform.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I am Commander Holland, in command of the battle cruiser _Bronze Horizon_, and the 36th Korhal Marine battalion, loyal to Emperor Mengsk of the Terran Dominion," the officer said.

"_Emperor_ Mengsk. What's happened to the confederacy?" Ajax asked incredulous.

"The corrupt confederacy had been overthrown, so that leaves you and your marines two choices. Join or die," Holland said.

Ajax looked at the other marines under his commander. They all gave him slight nods. They lowered their rifles in a non-threatening position. Ajax looked at the white armor they all wore, then he turned back to Holland.

"Join," he said.

"Good, I glad you see things our way. Now get your men on the dropships, we don't have much time. The Zerg have overridden much of your planet already. You will get more information when we get back to _Bronze Horizon_," Holland said, and he turned on his heel and marched back into the dropship from whence he came.

Danny looked around at the outpost that had been his home for the past three years, then stepped onto the dropship. He would get to see his family.


	2. Chapter 2 Bronze Horizon

**_Author's Note: _**The reposting of Chapter 2. I got inspired to rewrite this chapter and pick up this story where I left off. Hopefully chapter 3 will soon be following. Hope you enjoy the new chapter.

_**

* * *

**_

**Chapter 2: Bronze Horizon**

Danny seated himself in the plain metal chair of the battle cruiser's briefing room. The fresh fatigues felt good against his skin. There was no difference between them and the old confederate ones, except for the red hand circled by a whip. Once merely the insignia of the Sons of Korhal terrorist faction, it was now the heraldry of the newly founded Terrain Dominion.

Kenny sat himself next to Danny, and almost immediately began to tap a pen against his front teeth from impatience. Danny looked over at his friend, and let out a small stunted laugh. Kenny merely glanced over at him, before letting his eyes trail across the room. The other survivors of Taur Sara were all seated in the room, ready to receive the details of their next mission.

Danny had been pissed when the marines had been told they would not be going home as they had all planned upon doing. No, instead they were being shipped off to Antiga Prime. The news had come in their newly assigned quarters, just after they had been issued new fatigues and handed their old armor over to the engineers to melt down for scrap material.

It was a cocky lieutenant who had come into their room, interrupting their rest, to give them a quick brief on what had happened to the Confederacy, how Emperor Mengsk had overthrown their corrupt government and instated his own, banding together all Terrans to fight off the alien creatures known only as Zerg, which were rampaging across the sector.

So now they were here in this briefing room, filled with stale recycled air that was all one could get on any spacecraft. Sergeant Ajax stood at the front of the room, beside the door. His legs parted, and arms behind his back at the position of at ease.

The door hissed open, and Commander Holland stepped in.

"Room!" Ajax called out, causing every marine to jump to their feet and snap their heels together in attention, even as the sergeant came to attention and snapped off a salute.

"Relax," Holland said, returning the salute.

The commander walked to the centre of the room, pulling off the black hat that was a part of his naval uniform. Ajax has sat himself down in one of the chairs, and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. It was old fashion, but the sergeant had taught his men that it was more reliable than technology. The PDAs that marines liked to use so often anymore often broke in the midst of combat, leaving them without their orders.

The commander brought up a holographic display. The green light particles formed a picture of one of the four legged dog like creatures. The image spun in a complete circle repeatedly, while the creature appeared to be running.

"As you have undoubtedly heard by now, an alien race now known as the Zerg have entered Terran space and are moving from planet to planet, killing or infesting everything and everyone in their path. Most of our space has already fallen to the Zerg, entire planets now covered by a substance known only as creep, which the Zerg seem to require to birth their hive structures. The race is purely organic with the only technology they have is that which they have infested… from ourselves," the commander paused for a few seconds, allowing the stunned marines to absorb what they had just been told. Before today, their world had been stable, secure. Now they realize everything had changed while they'd been posted. Entire worlds simply gone, an alien race rampaging across the stars. Their heads spun.

"As if that weren't enough, contact with a second alien species calling themselves the Protoss have been scorching infested planets in an attempt to destroy the Zerg. These aliens are not our allies, they have openly destroyed Terran outposts in all out war. These aliens however are highly advanced, technologically speaking. Our scientists can't even figure out ways to approach the sciences of Protoss technology," commander Holland continued.

Kenny pressed a hand against his head and groaned, muttering "holy shit" as he did so. Danny couldn't help but shake his head. This was just too much. Two different species of aliens after thousands upon thousands of years of human history trying to discover whether or not they actually existed.

"That's a brief overview of the enemy situation. Further information on the Zerg and Protoss will be downloaded to your personal PDAs tonight. Study that information, it could save your life. Now as for the mission," Commander Holland stated.

The marines all got their PDAs or notebooks ready to copy the essential information down. This was stuff they would need. Commander Holland clicked a button on the small remote he held and the holographic image of the Zerg disappeared, almost immediately replaced by the image of a planet. The planet was surrounded by Dominion battlecruisers, and a strange substance which Danny assumed was the creep, had stretched across about half of the planet's surface.

"The world of Antiga Prime is currently being assaulted by the Zerg. The Protoss have yet to show up to destroy the planet, so we still have a chance of eradicating the Zerg threat and retaking the planet. That's the big picture. On the small scale that you care about, you are reinforcements for Dominion Outpost Whiskey 5. The outpost has been seeing heavy combat recently, so you'll be in the thick of it all. The outpost is under command of Captain Feral, with three squads under them. One needs a new sergeant, a position you will be filling Sgt. Ajax. The other two squads, one and three, are commanded by sergeants Cook, and Crowe. You will be split up amongst the three squads and receive further orders from your sergeants upon arrival. Is there any questions," the commander asked.

His eyes quickly scanned the seated marines. Generally no one asked a question, and so Holland was surprised when he saw a single hand in the air.

"What is it marine?" Holland asked.

"Has anything happened to Tarsonis sir?" Danny asked. Everyone else in the room paid close attention to the answer, they all came from that planet. Some had family there, though most Confederate marines didn't have any family.

At the mention of Tarsonis a sad look passed over the commanders features, and though it quickly passed, there was still a look of sorrow in his eyes as he went to answer.

"Tarsonis had fallen, the planet is completely destroyed," the commander said, and Danny's world fell apart.

* * *

"Danny settle down," a voice called from behind him, even as his fist collided with the steel bulkhead wall of their quarters, spattering a little more blood across the wall.

The voice was Kenny's, he was the only one trying to calm the shaken marine. The others tried their best to ignore the man's breakdown. Danny couldn't feel the pain from his fist, couldn't feel the warmth of the tears streaking down his face. All he felt was pain, a deep pain that hurt more than anything he had ever felt before in his life. It struck at his heart, a deep stake piercing into his very soul.

He hadn't spoken to his wife Miranda for months because of the difficulties in communication to and from Taur Sara. It had been even longer since he had spoken to his daughters, Sarah and Cathy, because the last time he had called home they had been out at school.

Now though he would never speak to them again, would never grow old with Miranda like he promised, never watch Sarah and Cathy grow up. None of the things that he was supposed to do, that he had promised to do.

The three things… people he cared for most were gone, killed suddenly and brutally, and he had not been there to protect them. He had told Miranda that he would protect her, and their daughters. He remembered telling her that in the hospital just after Sarah had been born. The nurse had just taken their youngest away, wrapping her in a blanket to keep her warm. Danny had knelt next to his wife, tired after being in labor for seven hours. He had run his hands through her soft chestnut hair, feeling the strands run between his fingers. Miranda had closed her eyes and enjoyed the soft sensation. That's when he promised her that he would always watch over her, and their daughters. He would protect them.

He had failed them all.

He felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. Danny knew it was Kenny, the only one he had left. No, that wasn't true… he had one other thing left. He had vengeance left.

* * *

Lieutenant Jill Fargus sat on her bunk, the components of her C-10 canister rifle laid out beside her. She held the lower receiver in one hand, the other ran an oiled rag over the metal, slipping inside and oiling the hammer, trigger springs, and every other mechanical part within the weapon.

The _Bronze Horizon_ would reach Antiga Prime soon, and Jill had a mission to do. Her gear had to be working properly, and the best one to ensure that it was meeting her standard, was herself.

The door hissed open, and Jill looked up, pushing a auburn bang away from her face, and tucking it behind her ear. The rest of her hair was tied back neatly in a ponytail, which hung down between her shoulder blades.

The man standing smartly in her doorway was Captain Jack Pople; the officer in charge of black ops on the _Bronze Horizon_. He handed her a slim device, with a button and a glass lens. It was a targeting laser for tactical nuclear missiles.

"You have two shots, and two shots only. Make them count," the captain said.

"Yes sir," Jill said, without coming to attention or saluting, the black ops just didn't do that.

Pople nodded solemnly, before walking out of the room. As soon as he was gone Jill went turned her full attention back to the rifle. It was time to reassemble the weapon. She attached the laser designator on the side of the optical sight, then slid the two receivers together, locking them into place with the receiver pins. She clicked the sight into place, and slipped the butt into place, as she worked, she glanced over the weapon to ensure it was in top working condition.

She was a ghost, and her gear was necessary for success in her mission… and her mission came before her own life.

* * *

The heavy boots of his power armor hit the floor heavily with each footstep. Danny walked through the corridors of the battle cruiser, gauss rifle clutched in one hand. The Dominion armor was exactly like the Confederate, the only difference being colour, and the insignia on the right shoulder pauldron. Personally, Danny liked the new red and black colour scheme, but he didn't voice the opinion. He simply walked down the corridor to the battle cruiser hanger bay.

Inside the hanger two dropships awaited to take the fresh marines down to the surface of Antiga Prime, which they had arrived at fifteen minutes before they got to the hanger bay. Danny felt no nervousness as he walked up the ramp and into the dropship. Kenny was right behind him, dressed in his brand new firebat armor. He sat across from Danny, and gave his old friend a cheerful thumbs up.

Danny returned it half-heartedly.

"_This is Lieutenant Welkes, your pilot this evening. Please ensure that all arms and legs are safely tucked inside at all times… and remember that the barf bags are stored just under your seats_," the pilot's voiced buzzed over the dropship intercom.

Some of the marines laughed at the antics that pilots generally played when troops boarded their ships. Danny barely heard the disembodied voice though, he simply sat, thinking about getting down to the surface and taking out all his fury, all his sorrow, all his hatred, on the Zerg horde. He would die down on that planet, but he was going to take down as many of the aliens as he possibly could.

Just before the boarding ramp closed, another figure jumped on board. All the marines stared at her; a lithe ghost operative clad in blue armor over a white skin tight stealth suit. A pair of vision goggles rested on the top of her head, nestled in her auburn hair, and a canister rifle was slung across her back.

The ghost ignored the stares and sat at the very back, in the shadows of the troop holding bay. While most of the marines continued to throw curious glances at the mysterious agent, Danny pushed her from his mind. All that mattered to him, was that soon he would get back at the Zerg, for taking everything from him.

"I love you Miranda," Danny muttered, too quietly for anyone to hear, especially over the sound of the engines as the dropship lifted off the floor. The ship left the docking bay and started its descent towards the surface of Antiga Prime and Whiskey outpost 5.

The elevator to hell.


End file.
